Medicine packaging machine

ABSTRACT

In a medicine packaging machine including a medicine accommodating mechanism for accommodating plural medicines, a chute for guiding medicines arbitrarily taken out from the medicine accommodating mechanism to a medicine packaging sheet, and a medicine packaging mechanism having a heater for thermally welding the medicine packaging sheet, the heater is provided with an incision tooth for forming an incision at an edge portion of the medicine packaging sheet at the same time when the medicine packaging sheet filled with the medicines. Furthermore, a cutting mechanism for cutting at a predetermined position a separate package bag formed by thermally welding the medicine packaging sheet is provided.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to JapanesePatent Application No. 2008-254615 filed on Sep. 30, 2008 and JapanesePatent Application No. 2008-254562 filed on Sep. 30, 2008. The contentof the applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a medicine packaging machine forpackaging medicines (medicines dispensed on the basis of a doctor'sprescription) with a medicine packaging sheet every given dose in ahospital, a pharmacy or the like.

2. Description of the Related Art

When a patient is given a dose of medicines dispensed according to aprescription, medicines required for a dose are packaged into the sameseparate package (packaged bag) and dosed to the patient by an automaticmedicine packaging machine or the like so that the patient can beavoided from mixing different medicines and taking these medicines(tablets or the like) by himself or herself. The medicine packagingsheet used for these separate packages (packaged bags) is sealed bythermal adhesion (welding) after medicines are put into the medicinepackaging sheet, whereby many separate packages are formed as a train oflinked medicine packages (see JP-A-2004-189315). This train of medicinepackages are cut at predetermined positions by a cutting mechanism, andeach of the separate medicine packages thus cut is supplied to eachpatient (see JP-A-05-132007).

However, the thermally welded medicine packaging sheet has the followingproblems. That is, it is difficult for a patient to cut out the weldedportion when the patient unseals (breaks the seal of) the medicinepackaging sheet, and also the patient may drop the medicines from themedicine packaging sheet when breaking the seal.

Furthermore, there is a method of forming a packaging sheet by using anelement which is subjected to cut processing so that the side edgeportion thereof is corrugated. In this case, however, the corrugatedportion of the packaging sheet is also hard to be cut out for agedpersons who cannot strongly pinch the packaging sheet, and also thecorrugation cut processing increases the manufacturing cost.

In the conventional cutting mechanism described above, a cutter bladefor cutting a medicine packaging sheet operates like sawing. Therefore,the conventional cutting mechanism has a problem that the cuttingmechanism portion must be designed in a large scale and thus theinstallation space thereof is large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been implemented to solve the foregoingproblems, and has an object to provide a medicine packaging machine forprocessing a medicine packaging sheet whose sealing can be easilyunsealed and whose sealing position can be easily found.

Furthermore, the present invention has another object to provide amedicine packaging machine that can miniaturize a cutting mechanismportion and thus can be saved in space.

In order to attain the above objects, according to a first aspect of thepresent invention, a medicine packaging machine comprises: a medicineaccommodating mechanism for accommodating plural medicines; a chute forguiding medicines arbitrarily taken out from the medicine accommodatingmechanism to a medicine packaging sheet; and a medicine packagingmechanism having a heater for thermally welding the medicine packagingsheet, wherein the heater is provided with an incision tooth for formingan incision at an edge portion of the medicine packaging sheet at thesame time when the medicine packaging sheet filled with the medicines.

According to the above construction, when the medicine packaging sheetis thermally welded, an incision can be formed at an edge portion of themedicine packaging sheet.

In the above medicine packaging machine, the heater may have a verticalportion extending in the width direction of the medicine packagingsheet, and a horizontal portion extending from the tip of the verticalportion in a feed direction of the medicine packaging sheet, and theincision tooth may be disposed in the horizontal portion so as to belocated in the neighborhood of the tip of the vertical portion.

According to the above construction, the incision can be formed at aplace near to the edge of each separate package bag.

Furthermore, in the above medicine packaging machine, the heater may beprovided with a void portion around the incision tooth.

According to the above construction, the surrounding of the incision isnot thermally welded by the heater.

In order to attain the above object, according to a second aspect of thepresent invention, a medicine packaging machine comprises: a medicineaccommodating mechanism for accommodating plural medicines; a chute forguiding medicines arbitrarily taken out from the medicine accommodatingmechanism to a medicine packaging sheet; a medicine packaging mechanismhaving a heater for thermally welding the medicine packaging sheet; anda cutting mechanism for cutting at a predetermined position a separatepackage bag formed by thermally welding the medicine packaging sheet,wherein the cutting mechanism has a fixed member for receiving themedicine packaging sheet and a movable member for pinching the medicinepackaging sheet in cooperation with the fixed member, the movable memberhas a cutting blade which freely protrudes to the fixed member, and thecutting blade protrudes to push and cut the medicine packaging sheetwhile the medicine packaging sheet is pinched by the fixed member andthe movable member.

According to the above construction, the cutting mechanism protrudes thecutting blade is protruded to push and cut the medicine packaging sheetunder the state that the medicine packaging sheet is pinched by thefixed member and the movable member. Therefore, after the movable memberis moved to the fixed member in a horizontal direction, the cuttingblade is merely slightly pushed forwardly. Accordingly, it isunnecessary that the cutting blade is operated as if a saw is operatedas in the case of a prior art, so that miniaturization of the mechanismportion can be performed and space saving can be performed.

The above medicine packaging machine may be further provided with a pairof medicine packaging sheet feeding rollers at each of the upstream sideand the downstream side of the cutting mechanism so as to rotate aroundshafts perpendicular to a feeding direction of the medicine packagingsheet and, and a guide member which is provided between the fixed memberand one of the medicine packaging sheet feeding rollers at the upstreamside of the cutting mechanism and guides the front edge of the medicinepackaging sheet to the cutting mechanism.

According to the above construction, after the medicine packaging sheetis cut by the cutting mechanism, the guide member guides the front edgeof the subsequent medicine packaging sheet to the cutting mechanism.Therefore, the subsequent medicine packaging sheet can be stably fedinto the cutting mechanism even when the front edge of the subsequentmedicine packaging sheet is warped.

In the above medicine packaging machine, the movable member may beprovided with a vertically long opening in which the cutting blade isretracted, and the fixed member may be provided with a recessed groovefor receiving the cutting blade.

According to the above construction, the cutting blade is located withinthe area of the movable member, and thus the cutting blade does notoverhang from the movable member, so that miniaturization can beperformed.

In the above medicine packaging machine, the movable member and thecutting blade may be driven by a common driving motor. According to thisconstruction, the actuator can be commonly used, and thus the mechanismcan be simplified.

According to the present invention, the heater is provided with theincision tooth which can form an incision at an edge portion of themedicine packaging sheet at the same time when the medicine packagingsheet filled with the medicines is thermally welded. Therefore, when themedicine packaging sheet is thermally welded, the incision can be formedat the edge portion of the medicine packaging sheet. Therefore, themedicine packaging sheet can be easily unsealed (opened). Furthermore,an incision can be formed at a place near to the end (edge) of eachseparate package bag, and thus there is no risk that medicines aredropped when the separate package bag is opened. Furthermore, thesurrounding of the incision is not thermally welded, and thus theincision can be easily found out.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the cutting mechanismprotrudes the cutting blade to push and out the medicine packaging sheetunder the state that the medicine packaging sheet is pinched by thefixed member and the movable member, and then the cutting blade islightly pushed forwardly. Accordingly, it is unnecessary that the cutterblade is operated as if sawing is executed as in the case of the priorart, so that the mechanism portion can be miniaturized and the space canbe saved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outlook of a medicine packagingmachine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the inside of the medicine packaging machine;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a medicine packaging mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a heat seal mechanism; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a cutting mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment according to the present invention will bedescribed hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outlook of a medicine packagingmachine 1 for putting solid drug products as medicines into a medicinepackaging sheet 20 to package the medicines in the form of a separatepackage (bag), and FIG. 2 is a side view of the inside of the medicinepackaging machine 1 of FIG. 1. Here, in the following description, theterm “medicine” is used as a target to be packaged. However, this termis broadly interpreted so as to cover general medicines such as not onlytablets (small round solid pieces of medicine), but also encapsulated orwrapped powder or liquid medicine, pills, trochiscus, etc. in thefollowing description.

The medicine packaging machine 1 is installed in a hospital, adispensing pharmacy or the like, and it is constructed by a medicineaccommodating mechanism 3 provided in a rectangular housing case 2, amedicine packaging mechanism 14 provided at the lower portion of thehousing case 2, etc. A tablet case accommodating unit 5 of the medicineaccommodating mechanism 3 is provided at the upper portion of the insideof the housing case 2. The opening of the upper surface of the tabletcase accommodating unit 5 is closed by a top table 4 so as to be freelyopenable and closable.

Plural tablet cases 6 are accommodated in the tablet case accommodatingunit 5, and a sub accommodating unit 7 is installed at the upper portionof the front side of the tablet case accommodating unit 5. This subaccommodating unit 7 is used to accommodate medicines which cannot beaccommodated in the tablet cases 6 (for example, tables which are cutout in halves, etc.). A belt conveyor (not shown) is driven by a belt 9wound around a pulley of a rotational shaft (not shown) of a motor 8(the motor 8 and the belt conveyor may be connected to each otherthrough a chain, a gear or the like). The belt conveyor is provided witha plurality of sequential accommodating compartments 7A (a train ofaccommodating compartments 7A).

A discharge count device such as a photosensor (not shown) or the likeis provided at the lower side of each tablet case 6. The discharge countdevice intercommunicates with each tablet case 6 at the upper sidethereof, and a motor-operated type discharge drum is contained in eachdischarge count device. The discharge drum is configured so thatmedicines as solidified drug products such as tablets, capsules, pills,trochiscus or the like creep into plural grooves formed in the sidesurface of the discharge drum so as to be on a line in the verticaldirection. By rotation of the discharge drum, the medicines drop one byone, and the number of the dropping medicines is detected by thephotosensor and counted.

A drop passage is formed at one end of the sub accommodating unit 7, andthis drop passage intercommunicates with the surface of a turn table 10described later. The medicines as described above are accommodated inthe accommodating compartments 7A of the sub accommodating unit 7, andwhen a user operates a switch to rotate the motor 8, whereby medicinesin each accommodating compartment 7A drop onto the turn table 10 throughthe drop passage one by one.

The disc-shaped turn table 10 for collecting medicines is disposed atthe lower side of each tablet case 6 and the drop passage, and this turntable 10 has an area corresponding to the lower portions of all thetablet cases 6 and the drop passage. An upheaval portion 10A whichupheaves conically is formed at the center portion of the turn table 10,and the turn table 10 is rotated at a predetermined speed by a turntable motor (not shown) provided at the lower side of the upheavalportion 10A.

An annular guide 11 is provided around the turn table 10 so as to erect,and a discharge port D is formed at a proper place of the guide 11 bynotching the guide 11.

A chute 13 described later is provided at the lower side of thedischarge port D, and medicines at the guide 11 side by the rotation ofthe turn table 10 drop into the chute 13. The chute 13 is designed in aninversed quadrangular pyramid shape so that the opened upper end thereofis opposed to the discharge port D of the turn table 10 and the openedlower end (tip) thereof is opposed to the unfolded upper surface of atwo-fold packaging sheet 20.

FIG. 3 shows the medicine packaging mechanism 14 provided at the lowerside of the turn table 10.

The medicine packaging mechanism 14 comprises a medicine packaging sheetmount unit in which a medicine packaging sheet roll 19 described lateris mounted, a guide unit for guiding a drawn-out medicine packagingsheet 20 to a predetermined position, and a pull-in unit for pulling thetip of the medicine packaging sheet 20 which are arranged on the bases15. The medicine package sheet mount unit comprises a rotational shaft16 which is erectly provided on the base 15 so as to be freelyrotatable, a disc-shaped mount plate 17 which is located at the bottomportion of the rotational shaft 16 so as to extend outwardly, a solenoiddriving type brake (not shown) disposed at the lower side of the mountplate 17 (between the mount plate 17 and the base 15), etc.

The rotational shaft 16 is designed in a cylindrical shape and has anouter diameter which is substantially equal to (or slightly smallerthan) the inner diameter of a shaft member 21 of the medicine packagingsheet roll 19 described later, and this rotational shaft 16 isdetachably inserted in the shaft member 21 formed in the medicinepackaging sheet roll 19.

Here, the medicine packaging sheet roll 19 comprises a hollow tubulartype shaft member formed of rigid synthetic resin (may be formed ofthick paper) (normally called as paper tube) 21, and the medicinepackaging sheet 20 around the hollow tubular type shaft member. Themedicine packaging sheet 20 is designed in a longitudinal strip-shapehaving a predetermined width, and it is wound around the shaft member 21in a roll shape.

The medicine packaging sheet 20 is formed as follows. A PET sheet isjoined to a low-density polyethylene sheet so as to be superposed on onesurface of the low-density polyethylene sheet, and two-folded at thecenter portion thereof so that the low-density polyethylene sheet sideserves as the inner surface and both the ends are completely overlappedwith each other. The medicine packaging sheet 20 is set so that thefolded portion 20A of the two-folded medicine packaging sheet 20 isplaced face down and the opening portion 20B (the opposite side to thefolded portion 20A) of the two-folded medicine packaging sheet 20 isplaced face up. The medicine packaging sheet 20 is wound around theshaft member 21 so that the folded portion 20A thereof is located at thelower end edge side of the shaft member 21 under the state that themedicine packaging sheet 20 is two-folded. The medicine packaging sheet20 is drawn out from the terminal edge of the rolled medicine packagingsheet 20.

A tension lever 23 as the guide unit is provided to the medicinepackaging mechanism 14 so as to be located at a side of the rotationalshaft 16. The tension lever 23 is bridged between two rollers 24 and 25.At this time, the roller 24 is fixed to the base 15, and the roller 25is freely swingable around the roller 24. The roller 25 is urged so asto be far away from the rotational shaft 16 by a spring member (notshown). The position of the roller 25 is detected by a switch (notshown). Reference numeral 26 represents a guide roller, and it iserectly provided at the side of the roller 24 on the base 15.

A draw-in roller 30 as a draw-in unit is provided on the base 15 so asto be located at the opposite side to the tension lever 23 with respectto the rotational shaft 16. The draw-in roller 30 comprises a pair ofnarrow-width rubber rollers 33 (rollers of natural rubber, syntheticrubber or the like), and they are freely rotatably secured to the upperends of the rotational shafts 32 and 34.

Specifically, the rotational shaft 34 of the other rubber roller 33Alocated at the downstream side of the heat seal mechanism 27 describedlater is urged by a coil spring (not shown) or the like, one rubberroller 33A is brought into contact with the rubber roller 33 under apredetermined pressure, and the draw-in motor 31 rotates, whereby boththe rubber rollers 33, 33A are rotated. Accordingly, the medicinepackaging sheet 20 is drawn out from the medicine packaging sheet roll19 by pinching the medicine package sheet 20 (the opening portion 20Bside) between both the rubber rollers 33 and 33A.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the heat seal mechanism 27. In FIG.4, the medicine packaging sheet 20 is fed from the right side to theleft side.

The heat seal mechanism 27 is provided between the guide roller 26 andthe draw-in roller 30, and has a function of sealing the opening portion20B of the medicine packaging sheet 20 by clasping thermal welding andcompartmenting the medicine packaging sheet 20 every package. The heatseal mechanism 27 comprises a pair of heaters 29 and 39 which aredisposed so as to face each other through a predetermined interval.Furthermore, one of the heaters 29 is provided with an actuating device28. The actuating device 28 is configured so that the heater 29 isfreely brought into contact with or separated from the other heater 39.By supplying current to each of the heaters 29 and 39, these heaters areheated to a predetermined temperature.

The heater 29 (39) comprises a vertical portion 29A (39A) extending inthe vertical direction in FIG. 4 (the short-length direction of themedicine packaging sheet 20, which is also called as “the widthdirection of the medicine packaging sheet 20), and a horizontal(parallel) portion 29B (39) extending from the upper end portion of thevertical portion 29A (39A) to the downstream side with respect to thefeeding direction of the medicine packaging sheet 20 (the longitudinaldirection of the medicine packaging sheet 20). That is, the heater 29(39) is designed in an inverse L-shape. The vertical portions 29A and39A of the heaters 29 and 39 thermally welds the medicine packagingsheet 20 from the folded portion 20A side to the opening portion 20Bwhile pinching the medicine packaging sheet 20 from both the sides,thereby forming and fixing a vertical welded portion 38. Accordingly, asubstantially triangular small bag 36A which is surrounded by thevertical welded portion 38 and the folded portion 20A is formed at theupstream side of the heat seal mechanism 27 under the state that theopening portion 20B has not yet been thermally welded. The chute 13described above is located above the small bag 36A, and medicinesdropping from the tablet cases 6 are put into the small bag 36A.Furthermore, the horizontal portions 29B and 39B are configured tothermally weld the opening portion 20B at the downstream side of thevertical portions 29A and 39A.

After the medicine packaging sheet 20 is thermally welded by the heatseal mechanism 27, the medicine packaging sheet 20 is moved to thedraw-in roller 30 side (in the direction of T in FIG. 4) by rotation ofthe draw-in roller 30 by a predetermined distance. The medicinepackaging sheet 20 is thermally welded by the heaters 29 and 39, wherebya separate package bag 36 which is thermally welded except for thefolded portion 20A and filled with medicines is formed at the downstreamside of the vertical portions 29A, 39A of the heaters 29, 39 (thedraw-in roller 30 side), and also a small bag 30A is formed at theupstream side of the vertical portions 29A and 39A. Furthermore, avertical teeth 41 extending in the vertical direction is provided to thevertical portion 29A of the heater 29. The vertical portion 39A of theheater 39 is provided with a vertical teeth receiving portion 51 forreceiving the vertical teeth 41 so that the vertical teeth 41 and thevertical teeth receiving portion 51 are opposed to each other throughthe medicine packaging sheet 20.

The vertical teeth 41 and the vertical teeth receiving portion 51 areformed so as to be longer than the length in the vertical direction (thewidth direction) of the medicine packaging sheet 20, and a perforatedline 37 (perforations) is formed substantially at the center of thewidth of the thermally welded portion (from the folded portion 20A tothe opening portion 20B) while the medicine packaging sheet 20 isthermally welded from the folded portion 20A to the opening portion 20B.Accordingly, the three sides of the medicine packaging sheet 20 arethermally welded (the remaining one side corresponds to the foldedportion 20A), and thus separate package bags 36 which are closed on thewhole peripheries thereof are formed so that the separate package bags36 can be separated from one another by cutting the perforated lines 37.

Furthermore, an incision tooth 43 extending in the vertical direction isprovided to the horizontal portion 29B of the heater 29 so as to belocated in the neighborhood of the vertical portion 29A and at thedownstream side of the vertical portion 29A.

Furthermore, a incision tooth receiving portion 53 for receiving theincision tooth 43 is provided the horizontal portion 39B of the heater39 so as to be opposed to the incision tooth 43. The incision tooth 43and the incision tooth receiving portion 53 are formed to be shorterthan the height of the horizontal portions 29B and 39B, and the upperend portions thereof are located to be higher than the opening portion20B of the medicine packaging sheet 20. Accordingly, incisions 45 areformed at the welded portion at the upper portion of the medicinepackaging sheet 20. The incisions 45 make it easy for a patient to openeach separate package bag 36.

Furthermore, a void portion 46 is provided around the incision tooth 43.At this void portion 46, the medicine packaging sheet 20 is notthermally welded. Therefore, a non-welded portion 47 is formed aroundeach incision 45.

FIG. 5 shows a cutting mechanism.

The cutting mechanism 60 is disposed at the downstream side of the pairof narrow-width rubber rollers (the medicine packaging sheet feedingrollers) 33 and 33A. The cutting mechanism 60 has a fixed member 61 forreceiving the medicine package sheet 20 and a movable member 63 forpinching the medicine package sheet 20 in cooperation with the fixedmember 61, and the fixed member 61 and the movable member 63 aredisposed on a stool.

The movable member 63 has a base member 63A and a surface member 63B,and two joint rods 66 and 67 are fixed to the base member 63A so thatthe joint rods 66 and 67 are spaced from each other in the verticaldirection. The two joint rods 66 and 67 are fixed to a support member68. A vertically long opening 70 is formed in the base member 63A andthe surface member 63B so as to penetrate through the base member 63Aand the surface member 63B, and a saw-tooth type cutting blade 71 ismounted in the opening 70 so as to freely penetrate through the opening70. The cutting blade 71 is formed at the tip edge of a flat-plate typecutting blade main body 73, the cutting lade main body 73 is fixed to aholder 74, and the holder 74 is juxtaposed with the support member 68.

Reference numeral 73 represents a rack in which a cam mechanism (notshown) is mounted. A driving motor 77 is fixed to the rack 75. Theoutput shaft (not shown) of the driving motor 77 is located inside therack 75, and the cam mechanism is joined to the output shaft. When thedriving motor 77 is driven, the cam mechanism is operated to first pushout the support member 68 and the holder 74 integrally and then push outthe movable member 63 and the cutting blade 71 integrally.

Subsequently, when the movable member 63 abuts against the fixed member61 while the medicine packaging sheet 20 is sandwiched therebetween, thecam mechanism pushes out only the holder 74 slightly, and thus only thecutting blade 71 is pushed out, so that the cutting blade 71 is fittedin a vertically long recessed groove 61A formed in the fixed member 61.The length of the vertically long recessed groove 61A is set to belonger than at least the width dimension of the medicine packaging sheet20. According to this construction, only the cutting blade 71 isprotruded until the cutting blade 71 is fitted in the recessed groove61A of the fixed member 61 under the state that the medicine packagingsheet 20 is pinched by the fixed member 61 and the movable 63, wherebythe medicine packaging sheet 20 is cut. The cutting blade 71 is asaw-tooth type blade. Therefore, when the cutting blade 71 is pushedout, plural sharp tip portions of the cutting blade 71 first stick intothe medicine packaging sheet 20. Then, when the cutting blade 71 isfurther pushed out and thus fitted into the recessed groove 61A of thefixed member 61, the medicine packaging sheet 20 is pushed and cut out.When this push-and-cut operation is finished, the cutting blade 71retreats through the operation of the cam mechanism. When the cuttingblade 71 is retracted into the opening 70 of the movable member 63, thecutting blade 71 and the movable member 63 integrally retreat to theposition shown in FIG. 5 and stick around. The movable member 63 and thecutting blade 71 are driven by a common driving motor 77, so that thedriving mechanism can be simplified by using a common actuator.

The width-narrow rubber roller (the medicine packaging sheet feedingroller) 33 has a rotational shaft 32. A timing belt is hung around therotational shaft 32, and the timing belt 81 is hung around the outputshaft of the draw-in motor 31.

A synchronizing timing belt (not shown) is hung around the rotationalshaft 32 of the rubber roller 33, and the synchronizing timing belt ishung around the narrow-width rubber roller (medicine packaging sheetfeeding roller) 83 which is located at the downstream side of thecutting mechanism 60. Reference numeral 86 represents a narrow-widthrubber roller paired with the rubber roller 83. According to thisconstruction, when the draw-in motor 31 is driven, the rubber rollers(medicine packaging sheet feeding rollers) 33 and 33A are rotatedthrough the timing belt 81, and the rubber rollers 83 and 86 are rotatedthrough the synchronizing timing belt.

As described above, the rubber rollers 33 and 33A and the rubber rollers83 and 86 are disposed at the upstream side and downstream side of thecutting mechanism 60, and these rollers are driven by the draw-in motor31 to rotate around the shafts perpendicular to the medicine packagingsheet feeding direction.

A guide member 87 which is designed like a folded plate is disposed toguide the front edge of the medicine packaging sheet 20 into the gapbetween the fixed member 61 and the movable member 63 (the cuttingmechanism 60). The guide member 87 is disposed so that the face of theguide member 87 at the movable member 63 side is located on the sameplane as the face of the fixed member 61 at the movable member 63 side.

Next, the operation procedure and the operation of the medicinepackaging machine 1 will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the medicine packaging sheet roll 19 ismounted on the mount plate 17 while the rotational shaft 16 is insertedinto the shaft member 21 of the medicine packaging sheet roll 19. Atthis time, the medicine packaging sheet roll 19 is secured with theopening portion 20B of the medicine packaging sheet 20 placed face up.After the medicine packaging sheet roll 19 is mounted around therotational shaft 16 as described above, the medicine packaging sheet 20of the medicine packaging sheet roll 19 is drawn out from the tipthereof, successively passed over the outer portions of the rollers 25,24 of the tension lever 23, passed over the inner portion of the guideroller 26, passed through the gap between the heaters 29 and 39 and thenled to the draw-in roller 30. Then, the tip of the medicine packagingsheet 20 is inserted into the gap between the rubber rollers 33 and 33Aof the draw-in roller 30, and the draw-in motor 31 is driven, so thatthe rubber rollers 33 and 33A pull the medicine sheet 20 from the heatseal mechanism 27 side to the opposite side (in the sheet feedingdirection) while coming into contact with each other under pressure.Therefore, the medicine packaging sheet 20 is drawn into the draw-inroller 30.

According to this embodiment, in the medicine packaging machine havingthe medicine accommodating mechanism 3 for accommodating pluralmedicines (tablets, etc.), the chute 13 for guiding medicinesarbitrarily taken out from the medicine accommodating mechanism 3 to themedicine packaging sheet 20 and the medicine packaging mechanism 14having the heaters 29 and 39 for thermally welding (adhering) themedicine packaging sheet 20, the heater 29 is provided with the incisionblade 43 which can incise the edge portion of the medicine packagingsheet 20 at the same time when the medicine packaging sheet 20 filledwith the medicines are thermally welded. Therefore, when the medicinepackaging sheet 20 is thermally welded, the incision 45 can be formed atthe edge portion of the medicine packaging sheet 20, and thus themedicine packaging sheet 20 can be easily opened (unsealed).

Furthermore, the heater 29 (39) has the vertical portion 29A (39A)extending in the width direction of the medicine packaging sheet 20, andthe horizontal portion 29B (39B) extending from the tip of the verticalportion 29A (39A) in the feeding direction of the medicine packagingsheet 20, and also the incision tooth 43 is provided to the horizontalportion 29B so as to be located in the neighborhood of the verticalportion 29A. Therefore, the incision 45 can be formed at a place near tothe edge of each separate package bag 36. Accordingly, the position ofthe incision 45 is not displaced with respect to the thermally weldedportion of the medicine packaging sheet 20, and thus there is no riskthat medicines drop from a separate package bag 36 when the separatepackage bag 36 is opened.

When separate package bags 36 formed in the medicine packaging sheet 20are different in length in the sheet feeding direction, the medicinepackaging sheet 20 is thermally welded while the horizontal portions 29Band 39B are overlapped with each other in the feeding direction. Even inthis case, the incision 45 is formed at a fixed position of eachseparate packaging bag 36 because the incision tooth 43 is located inthe neighborhood of the tip of the vertical portion 29A. The heater 29is provided with the void portion 46 formed around the incision tooth43. Therefore, the non-welded portion 47 which is not thermally weldedby the heater 29 is formed around the incision 45. Therefore, themedicine packaging sheet 20 (separate package bag 36) can be more easilyunsealed (opened) from the incision 45. Furthermore, the non-weldedportion 47 is provided around the incision 45, and thus the incision 45can be easily found.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the medicine packaging sheet 20 enters thecutting mechanism 60, it is cut at a predetermined position by thecutting blade 71.

The cutting position is arbitrarily controlled, and for example, itcorresponds to a position A shown in FIG. 4. In the medicine packagingsheet 20, separate package bags 36 are continuously formed, however, nomedicine is put into several separate package bags located at anteriorand posterior positions to the cutting position A.

In this embodiment, with respect to the separate package bag 36 filledwith no medicine at the position A, the medicine packaging sheet 20 issandwiched (pinched) by the fixed member 61 and the movable member 63,and under this state only the cutting blade 71 is protruded until it isfitted in the recessed groove 61A of the fixed member 61, whereby themedicine packaging sheet 20 can be easily cut out at the position Athereof. The width dimensions of the fixed member 61 and the movablemember 63 are desired to be smaller than the width dimension of theseparate package bag 36.

In this construction, the cutting mechanism 60 protrudes the cuttingblade 71 to push and cut the medicine packaging sheet under the statethat the medicine packaging sheet 20 is pinched by the fixed member 61and the movable member 63. Therefore, the movable member 63 ishorizontally moved to the fixed member 61 and then the cutting blade 71is slightly pushed forwardly. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to operatethe cutter blade as if the medicine packaging sheet 20 is sawed.Therefore, the mechanism portion can be miniaturized, and the space canbe saved. Furthermore, the cutting blade 71 is pushed out (protruded)under the state that the medicine package sheet 20 is pinched by thefixed member 61 and the movable member 63 under tension, so that themedicine packaging sheet 20 can be surely and finely cut out.

The guide member 87 for guiding the front edge of the medicine packagingsheet 20 to the cutting mechanism 60 is provided between the rubberroller 33 and the fixed frame 61 at the upstream side of the cuttingmechanism 60. Therefore, after the medicine packaging sheet 20 is cut inthe cutting mechanism 60, the guide member 87 guides the front edge ofthe subsequent medicine packaging sheet 20 to the cutting mechanism 60.Accordingly, even when curved warpage occurs at the front edge portionof the subsequent medicine packaging sheet 20, the front edge portion ofthe medicine packaging sheet 20 can be stably fed into the cuttingmechanism 60.

The vertically long opening 70 in which the cutting blade 71 isretracted is formed in the movable member 63. Therefore, the cuttingblade 71 is located within the area of the movable member 63, and thusthe cutting blade 71 do not overhang from the movable member 63, so thatminiaturization can be performed.

The present invention has bee described above, however, it is notlimited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment,the movable member 63 and the cutting blade 71 are driven by the cammechanism joined to one driving motor 77. However, the powertransmission mechanism is not limited to the cam mechanism, and anymember such as a crank mechanism or the like may be used insofar as itcan drive the movable member 63 and the cutting blade 71 and finallyprotrude the cutting blade.

1. A medicine packaging machine comprising: a medicine accommodatingmechanism for accommodating plural medicines; a chute for guidingmedicines arbitrarily taken out from the medicine accommodatingmechanism to a medicine packaging sheet; and a medicine packagingmechanism having a heater for thermally welding the medicine packagingsheet, wherein the heater is provided with an incision tooth for formingan incision at an edge portion of the medicine packaging sheet at thesame time when the medicine packaging sheet filled with the medicines.2. The medicine packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein theheater has a vertical portion extending in the width direction of themedicine packaging sheet, and a horizontal portion extending from thetip of the vertical portion in a feed direction of the medicinepackaging sheet, and the incision tooth is disposed in the horizontalportion so as to be located in the neighborhood of the tip of thevertical portion.
 3. The medicine packaging machine according to claim1, wherein the heater is provided with a void portion around theincision tooth.
 4. A medicine packaging machine comprising: a medicineaccommodating mechanism for accommodating plural medicines; a chute forguiding medicines arbitrarily taken out from the medicine accommodatingmechanism to a medicine packaging sheet; a medicine packaging mechanismhaving a heater for thermally welding the medicine packaging sheet; anda cutting mechanism for cutting at a predetermined position a separatepackage bag formed by thermally welding the medicine packaging sheet,wherein the cutting mechanism has a fixed member for receiving themedicine packaging sheet and a movable member for pinching the medicinepackaging sheet in cooperation with the fixed member, the movable memberhas a cutting blade which freely protrudes to the fixed member, and thecutting blade protrudes to push and cut the medicine packaging sheetwhile the medicine packaging sheet is pinched by the fixed member andthe movable member.
 5. The medicine packaging machine according to claim4, further comprising a pair of medicine packaging sheet feeding rollerswhich are provided at each of the upstream side and the downstream sideof the cutting mechanism so as to rotate around shafts perpendicular toa feeding direction of the medicine packaging sheet, and a guide memberwhich is provided between the fixed member and one of the medicinepackaging sheet feeding rollers at the upstream side of the cuttingmechanism and guides the front edge of the medicine packaging sheet tothe cutting mechanism.
 6. The medicine packaging machine according toclaim 4, wherein the movable member is provided with a vertically longopening in which the cutting blade is retracted, and the fixed member isprovided with a recessed groove for receiving the cutting blade.
 7. Themedicine packaging machine according to claim 4, wherein the movablemember and the cutting blade are driven by a common driving motor.